The planned nationwide strike continues because the meeting between the National Assembly and Labour leaders couldn’t agree on a solution.
The Labour leaders said they can’t stop the strike without following their rules. The National Assembly asked them to stop the strike and talk more, but Labour needs to talk to their leaders first.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, who spoke for Labour, said they’re disappointed because the government hasn’t agreed to pay workers more yet. They’ll talk to their leaders again and consider what the government said.
Osifo said: “We’ve had a conversation; we’ve had a meeting and the issues were laid bare on the part of government. On the part of Organised Labour, we also laid what the issues are and there was an appeal from the Senate President for us to call off industrial action tonight but on our part.
“We said that we have heard him but it is not possible for us to sit here and call off any industrial action because there are conditions, and precedents given to us by our NEC.”
“For now, we don’t have the powers to call off the industrial action so the strike will continue while we will have conversations with our organs as soon as possible to lay bare what they have put forward and what they have proposed.”
The National Assembly wanted to help solve the problem. They think striking should be the last choice because it affects the people. They are asking Labour to come back and talk more with the government to find a better solution for everyone.
The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio said: “We decided to intervene because we are a people’s parliament. Again, the National Assembly believes strongly that more suffering to Nigerians must be avoided.
“We also know that it’s not just a question of strike in words. Most poor people will be affected, those who are unable to access medical services will die, goods and services will not move freely, productivity will reduce drastically, and the living standards of Nigerians will also be affected.
“Hence, in the last four hours, we have been making appeals and we are still appealing to the leadership of the NLC and the TUC to quickly return to the negotiating table with the government with the view to finding a lasting solution on this minimum wage issue and avoid any nationwide strike.”
